Cathay Williams was undoubtedly a woman of great strength, courage, and bravery in fiction and nonfiction. Bird certainly honored Williams with unshakable traits inspiring an audience, bringing this unsung woman to the spotlight. A very entertaining story through Bird’s interpretation of a fearless woman while simultaneously demonstrating the brutality of the Civil War. Not much can be found on Cathay Williams in the annals of history but with certitude, she endured and survived much. Creative historical fiction narrative with the star protagonist a woman willing to take great risks for her independence and autonomy, a true woman marking a deserved place in history.

I absolutely loved this historical fiction book about Cathy Williams and cannot believe it is a story I had never heard. She was a fascinating and inspiring character and I could not put this book down. It was well written and completely pulled you into the world of Cathy. Hers is a story that should and needs to be told. It is a heart wrenching and inspiring life. I highly recommend everyone to read this book. It will definitely be going on my re-read list.

<i>Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen</i> is loosely based on the true story of Cathy Williams, born a slave in Missouri in 1944, freed by General Sheridan to serve as a cook for his troops, and eventually passing herself off as a man to serve in the Buffalo Soldiers after the Civil War. The Cathy in this book passes herself off as “William Cathay” to join the cavalry, ending up in west Texas.

The story started a little slowly for me, but by the end, I was so hooked that I stayed up until nearly 3 AM to finish it. While little is known about the real Cathy Williams, I would imagine she would have had to be the same brave, fierce woman she is portrayed as in this novel to have been possibly the first woman to have enlisted in the army during peace time. (There are women who disguised themselves as men to serve during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, but Cathy didn’t sign up until the Civil War had already ended.)

*SPOILER ALERT* There is one element of this book that I think will be divisive for whether people enjoy this book or not - <spoiler>the love interest Cathy is given in the story, when there is no evidence of a man having played any part in the real Cathy’s decisions</spoiler>.

Overall, I think this read was worth my time, although it could have been better edited to cut out some of the slow pace. 3.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book.

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC; all opinions provided are my own.
​Sarah Bird’s Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen tells an exciting story featuring an indomitable heroine who forges her own warrior path that harkens back to her female ancestors before her.

Cathy Williams is the granddaughter of an African warrior queen & raised by her mother to believe that she’s not a slave: she’s a captive.

In 1864, when Union soldiers led by Sheridan stop by the plantation where she’s held captive, she’s assumed to be a man & becomes contraband of the army where she’ll serve as a cook’s assistant.

What follows is a series of adventures in the army, where she’s eventually revealed to be a woman, followed by her service as a Buffalo Soldier after she cuts her hair & takes on the name of William Cathay.

Told later, when Cathy’s an older woman living in Colorado, Cathy’s story is vivid & revealed by a voice that leaps off the page. African history & culture—as seen particularly through her grandmother’s & mother’s stories & their words Cathy remembers—are critical to Cathy’s story & to how she sees herself: Black women can & do anything, including take on Rebel soldiers, make new lives for themselves, & serve their country.

The book compellingly explores tensions within Cathy’s unit & the unique pressures facing Black soldiers. I found her emotional responses regarding how she identifies as a woman & the gender & racial constraints she faces to be particularly moving.

While I appreciate how Cathy’s views toward Native Americans grow more complicated over time, her degrading reference to homosexuality & overall attitude toward it is disconcerting and lacks nuance, to say the least, particularly given that Lem has been one of the most understanding & generous figures in the book toward her. I think that more could have been done with this aspect of the novel, especially since it comes up over & over again.

Thanks to the publisher for this ARC.

3.5 ⭐️. Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen is available now.

This book is historical fiction based on Cathy Williams, a slave who disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the Buffalo Soldiers after the end of the Civil War. The story is interesting but I found it to be slow at times. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Cathy Williams was a real person, and Sarah Bird steps up to tell her story, marrying an engaging narrative with historical fact. Though I am mighty late, I received this book free and early. My thanks go to St. Martin’s Press and Net Galley for the review copy.

Cathy Williams was born a slave, though her mother told her to regard herself not as a slave, but as a captive, one of noble warrior blood whose destiny was freedom. The American Civil War led General Philip Sheridan to the tobacco farm in Missouri where Cathy and many others performed forced labor for “Old Mister.” Sheridan chooses her to work in the kitchen; she isn’t pretty, and he figures she will do what she’s supposed to, rather than being caught up in romance. She and other former slaves work in exchange for meals and protection against Rebel slave-hunters.

The American Civil War is my favorite historical period to read about, and I have a soft spot for Sheridan, so this makes the story all the sweeter for me. Before my retirement, I was a history teacher and the civil war was what I taught for one term every school year, yet I didn’t find any inaccuracies here. That’s a rare thing.

Usually, stories that are set during this period hit a climax when the war ends, and soon after that, the book is over. Bird doesn’t do that here; after all, this story isn’t about the war, it’s about Williams. Victory is declared, everyone whoops for joy, and we’re not even halfway in it yet. I like this, because it shows some continuity, and one must wonder, at times—so the war ends, and then what? The South is decimated. The army virtually dissolves. What becomes of those we have been reading about? Reconstruction starts and fails, we know this; yet one wonders about individual stories.

After the war, the army is still Cathy’s home. She is a big woman, and when a soldier friend is murdered, she takes his army coat and dresses herself up as a man, becoming Private Cathay, and she joins the Buffalo Soldiers. In real life, she is the only woman to do so.

I won’t even try to recount the many experiences Williams has; in some ways, it’s a less exaggerated version of Forrest Gump, or Little Big Man, but an African-American woman is the subject, and the story is true. Bird did some top-notch research for this thing, and between that and her considerable skill with character development, pacing, and dialogue, the result is pure gold.

It starts a little slow, but patience will reward you. There’s a fair amount of violence—how could there not be—and a number of ugly situations that might make this a bad fit for a classroom read-aloud, and that’s a shame, but the story had to be told this way. I recommend it for high school libraries, and Black History Month shelves; it might also make a fine gift for your precocious reader, depending on your comfort level and theirs. The very best thing to do, younger readers or no, is to read it yourself. I alternated my review copy with the audio version that I scooped from Seattle Bibliocommons, and the reader is a standout, so I recommend it in that form as well.

An interesting topic and MC but I walked away weary of the author's decisions regarding Native Americans and other details in the story.

Though I usually enjoy historical fiction based on a person or true events, this one story seemed loosely based on Cathay Williams. The story did bring to attention that some of the Yankees were looting and destroying property. Also the portrayal of slaves, freed slaves and racial issues during this time period read true. Having never heard of Cathay Williams, I did research more about her which is always a plus. Just an okay book for me.

Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen is a harrowing yet beautiful read, one that I cannot recommend enough to fellow readers. It hits on all the right notes, while still having a lesson worth teaching to the readers. I loved every minute of this read, and will remember it always.

4.5*
Bird bases Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen on Cathy Williams, a real former slave who became a soldier following the Civil War. The shackles have been removed and she recalls with pride her mother’s tales of Cathy’s grandmother who was an African Queen. She sees there are few options for former slave women and when an opportunity appears, to serve the famous General Sheridan, she jumps at the chance. Her new job gives her the freedom to travel the land and not be subjected to indignities or subjugation. On the road she nurses a badly injured Black soldier and becomes fond of talking to him until he’s thrown in a grave. Ultimately, Cathy decides that she can do what the men do and signs up.

Now, in disguise as a young male recruit, she uses her wits to hide her female needs and manners. Life in the military was very hard but it gave Cathy independence and purpose. Black soldiers like Cathy were subjected to harassment and indignities, despite their willingness to follow orders and do the worst jobs. Further problems arose when former Confederate soldiers created havoc for some of the American troops, especially those who might have been their former property.

The story is fascinating and might seem improbable, given how long she was successful with her disguise. Other tales of female soldiers exist but this one is unique because it involves a Black former slave. In this case, there is truth to the premise. Bird researched the real Cathy Williams, also known as William Cathay. Dramatic license was given free reign because the details of the real woman/soldier were sparse.

This story of a woman acting as a man is riveting. The rough conditions, the attacks by former Rebel soldiers, the women prostitutes who have made the desperate choice to follow the troops, the condescension and prejudice of many White soldiers and the intolerance of so many are all important elements of Cathy’s/William’s journey. Not only is this a fascinating historical tale, but the characters are diverse and interesting. The relationships Cathy makes with the few soldiers she gets close to, add humanity to a story of survival and perseverance.

DNF
2018; St Martin's Press

Ended at Book 1, Chapter 30 I just can’t read any more. I’ve tried ebook, book and audio but I could not connect with the story or characters. I really wanted to read this one, especially with all the reviews. I may have to try again at another time.

***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***

I had high hopes for this one but was left disappointed. Not as interesting as I expected; it was just OK.

Diverse works of fiction are very important for me to read both as a reader and a boookseller. I really enjoy reading this book and learning about pieces of history that I never new about. Thank you for broadening my literary horizons! I give this book 5 stars as a exceptional read that I will be sharing with my bookstore clientele.

This was an interesting and moving story. I had a hard time wanting to put the book down, but felt at times that I needed to walk away before continuing.

While the majority of the read was enjoyable, there were a few places where I felt it just bogged a little, but then would slide back in and start fresh.

A beautiful historical novel that is told with such poise and grace. A portrait of life as a slave turned Buffalo soldier and everything that entailed.

I read this book long after I was approved for the review copy and actually ended up reading it for book club.

I enjoyed the book, but didn't love it. It did garner a lot of discussion but I would say that most in my book club couldn't get behind the book and felt as though it wasn't as close historically as it should be to the truth. I may have given the book a little leeway for some fiction.

This book is loosely based on the true story of Cathy Williams, a freed slave who enlisted under a man's name in the Buffalo Soldiers just after the Civil War. I thought it was an amazing story! Cathy is constantly at risk of being discovered as a woman, and she's under no illusions as to how her fellow soldiers will treat her if they find out. To make matters more complicated, she's fallen in love with her superior officer, who she thinks she recognizes from the night that she was freed.

That's a really brief description, but there is a lot going on in this book. Cathy is the daughter of the daughter of a captured warrior queen who was sold into slavery by her enemies. This grandmother, Iyaiya, instilled in her descendants that they aren't slaves, they are prisoners of war. Cathy gets a lot of her self-respect from this idea of herself as someone who is waiting out captivity, looking for a chance to escape her enemies.

Cathy has a dry sense of humor, and her choice of language, slyly mocking her less savory comrades, left me smiling a lot. The adventure of this book- the idea of going and settling a very wild West- also was brilliantly written. Really, the book was the whole package. It had humor, adventure, fascinating history, a romance that took my breath away, and suspense.

It's worth saying a bit more about the romance. Cathy thinks that her current superior office might be the officer that she spoke to in a blacked-out wagon as she was being taken to serve in Sheridan's army. But she thinks that this man is now dead, so doubts herself. The author really brings home the struggle it was for freed slaves to think of themselves as people who have worth, and how they were constantly denied that worth, is heart-breaking, no less so due to the realization that we haven't come so very far from that today. Cathy wants to be seen and valued by a man for her strength and her character, and she loves a man with a sterling character himself. Their love felt larger than life, and the desperate situation in which these two found each other heightened all the tenderness, respect and longing of a storied romance. To read such a romance with two black characters is not something I've come across often, and I thought it was really special. Often it seems like books with black lead characters focus on the negatives of the hardships of life and how people let each other down. Black men often don't come off well in these stories, and it was great to see a true, idealistic hero and heroine, fighting against a system that won't let them be free even after slavery is over.

Now: I've read some reviews that feel like this book is problematic. It may be so. Indigenous people are referred to as savages, but unfortunately this is how Cathy would probably have seen them. She also has great admiration for other Indigenous characters. Some of the freed slaves are ignorant and/or malicious. The truth is that many slaves couldn't learn to read (Cathy's skill at figuring is part of what makes her useful to her unit), and many of them had never been able to travel. I thought that the author did a pretty good job of showing that uneducated doesn't mean simple. The author didn't have many "good" characters in the book. Lots of men went along with the strongest personality, even if that person was manipulative and nasty. That's not unrealistic to me. There were also characters who had good qualities, but also blind spots because of racism- this also rang true to me. And there were people who stood up for the right thing at great risk to themselves. I don't want to be an apologist, although I suppose that's what I'm doing; I'm just trying to state that I think things are more than just black and white (so to speak) in this book. You may feel very differently.

It’s set right after the Civil War. A young woman, who is a former slave, disguises herself as a man to join the US army and journey out West. It is a total page-turning adventure of handsome princes, secret identities, star-crossed lovers and determined heroines and heroes. It’s also sharp, funny, political, resonant, heartbreaking—and did I say funny?

I'm very sorry to say that I was not able to become involved with the characters or plot line. Typically, I love historical fiction and find the Civil War time period particularly interesting, but unfortunately, this book did not hold my interest and I became weighted down with the slow plot pace. I appreciate the opportunity to read this book and apologize that I cannot rate it higher.

This book is why anyone who loves historical fiction does so. Cathy Williams is a force to be reckoned with, even so long after her death, and you really can't help but cheer for her at every turn. A newly-freed slave, Cathy was raised by a fierce mother and a warrior grandmother with memories of the glories of Africa. They were captives, not slaves, and Cathy's whole experience in the last years of the American Civil War and those afterwards as she fooled her way into the famous Buffalo Soldiers, the 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, by dressing as a male soldier.

Cathy's entire experience shows a lot of growth from a character standpoint but she never loses that brash confidence of when we first meet her, despite the incredible trials she endures throughout the story. Her personality is so enjoyable, even at its most abrasive, and every secondary character only enhances her. I thought the plot structure is good though I will admit to feeling a slight lag around the halfway point. It's barely worth mentioning though because I really couldn't put the book down. I liked how all the characters kind of stick with Cathy and the story even if they aren't physically present and, of the secondary characters, I most enjoyed Solomon. The portrayal of General Sheridan was also fantastic; as one of my favorite generals of the time, it was a lot of fun to see him come alive in a fictional setting.

It's one of those stories that sticks with you for a simple reason: hope. Cathy never took what was handed to her. She scraps and fights and makes things happen for herself by herself. It's the kind of person we all hope to be and Bird did such a great job bringing Cathy to us with so much life and passion. Highly recommend this one to historical fiction fans but even those outside of the genre will find something here with this intense, unapologetic, brave woman and her story.

Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher St. Martin's Press, and the author Sarah Bird for the opportunity to do so.